


Before You Break My Heart

by InTheWind



Category: The Fosters (TV 2013)
Genre: Adultery, F/F, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 05:53:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2457248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InTheWind/pseuds/InTheWind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a one-night-stand, Lena walks away rather than risk getting hurt. Stef knows she's going to have to make a grand gesture in order to get her back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before You Break My Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [luvtheheaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvtheheaven/gifts).



_“I can’t do this anymore.”_

_“Do what, Lena? What are you talking about?”_

_“It’s too hard, Stef. I can’t introduce you to people as just my friend and pretend that’s all there is. I can’t watch you go home to Mike every night like that’s where you belong. I think we both know it’s not. I think you belong with me, but I can’t keep waiting for you to figure that out. What happened between us the other night meant too much to me to sweep it under the rug like some drunk straight woman’s mistake. I’m sorry, but until you’re ready to admit it was more than that, I can’t see you anymore.”_

That conversation followed Stef home, replayed itself in her mind as she kissed her young son goodnight and made passionless love to her husband. All night long Lena’s voice hissed into her ear, her acerbic tone biting into the word “straight” as if she could see through every lie Stef had ever told herself. By the next morning, she knew what she needed to do.

“Mike,” she said over breakfast, well before Brandon woke up. “We need to talk.”

A separation. She’d had the thought before, but this was her first time saying the words aloud. They carried a certain finality to them that she’d always dreaded, even long after she realized she didn’t love him anymore. Now, somehow, it felt right.

“Is this because of the other night?” Mike wanted to know.

Stef flinched, recalling the taste of Lena’s lips on hers and wondering if he’d somehow seen. If he knew that wasn’t all she’d tasted that night.

“Look, Stef, I’m sorry,” he continued, oblivious. “I know I stayed out a little late with the guys, maybe had a few too many. I’ll cut back, I promise, just please don’t do this.”

“A few,” she repeated as her guilt gave way to resignation. “It’s always a few, Mike. A few too many with the guys, a few too many after work. You’re a mess.” She blew out a breath, running her hands through her hair like she was about to tear it out. “ _We’re_ a mess.”

He sat in front of her, taking her small hands in his. “We can fix this.”

“I’m sorry, Mike,” she said, shaking her head as she dealt the final blow. “I want you to leave.”

***

“Karaoke night? Seriously, guys?”

Lena was in no mood for festivities, but when Kelly and Jenna called her to go out that night they hadn’t taken no for an answer. And so she found herself dragged into a dark pub, seated at an uneven metal table directly in front of the stage, listening to piped-in music through grainy speakers as the crowd drowned itself in liquid courage ahead of the competition.

She was on her second margarita and her head was already starting to swim when the opening strains of a Fleetwood Mac song started to play. But the familiar voice she was hearing didn’t belong to Christine McVie, and she almost choked on her drink as she whipped her head up to see the stage.

“Can you hearing me calling out your name? You know that I’m falling and I don’t know what to say…”

Stef looked like a deer in headlights as she croaked out the opening lines, but as soon as she made eye contact with Lena her resolve seemed to strengthen.

“I’ll speak a little louder, I’ll even shout. You know that I’m proud and I can’t get the words out.”

Jenna and Kelly were giving Stef thumbs-up signs from behind Lena’s back; Lena was oblivious. She scarcely even noticed anyone else was in the room. Her heart was making a valiant attempt at escaping through her throat, and she was suddenly blind and deaf to everything but the woman on stage before her.

“Something’s happening, happening to me. My friends say I’m acting peculiarly.” At this a blush rose in Stef’s cheeks, but she smiled and began swaying to the music. “Come on, baby, we better make a start. You better make it soon before you break my heart.”

She walked to the edge of the small stage, getting as close to Lena as she could.

“Oh, I… I want to be with you everywhere.”

Neither woman noticed the song had faded out until the room erupted in applause, and some particularly refined patron yelled out, “So fuckin’ kiss her already!” As Stef put the microphone down and stepped off the stage, Lena took her in her arms.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” she asked, looking around.

Stef shrugged, a small, nervous smile appearing on her face. “Honestly? I’m not sure of anything right now except that what we did the other night felt right. And this, being in your arms right now, this feels right. I want to give us a shot, Lena.”

“I won’t be your dirty little secret,” Lena warned.

Stef laughed. “Honey, I just serenaded you in a packed lesbian bar. How much less secret do you want me to get?” On a more serious note, she added, “I asked Mike to move out this morning.”

At this, Lena’s eyes went wide. “You did? So you mean…?”

“It’s something I know I’ve needed to do for a while, but meeting you finally gave me a reason to think I could have more, I could be happy. I want you. I want… us. I don’t know if I’ll be any good at this, but I’m ready to try if you’ll have me.”

“So fuckin’ kiss her already,” Jenna repeated as Kelly high-fived her in the background.

Lena turned around to glare at her friends. “And they helped you plan this?”

Stef nodded. “I called them after Mike left this morning; I couldn’t wait any longer than that. I told them I wanted to do something in public, something to let you know I’m really in this. Kelly said she knew this place, and Jenna said she could get you there, so…” She frowned. “You thought it was totally stupid, didn’t you?”

Lena laughed. “Right up until the moment I saw you on stage, yeah. But then… I think this is one of the most romantic things anyone’s ever done for me.”

“Really?” Stef beamed.

“Yeah, really.” It was then that Lena’s lips brushed Stef’s, softly at first and then with an intensity that kept both women rooted to the spot. When oxygen was just a distant memory, they finally broke apart. Lena ran her hands through the blonde’s hair in a silent gesture of reassurance. With a smile, she said simply, “Let’s do this again soon.”

“Yeah,” Stef agreed. “I’d like that.”


End file.
